As part of DARPA’s C2E program, this new technology looks decades into the future, flexing to support a high level of change and advancement.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded BAE Systems a contract to combat the rapid evolution of technological threats posed by U.S. adversaries. The work will aim to develop a new framework of reliable, jam-resistant networked communications as part of the Communications in Contested Environments (C2E) program. Valued at $3.2 million, the contract for a new open system architecture (OSA) is for the first phase of DARPA’s C2E initiative.

“With our role in the C2E program, we’re not only addressing technological threats that we anticipate our adversaries will use tomorrow, we’re looking decades into the future and building a system that can adapt and flex to support a high level of change and advancement in the years ahead,” said Michael V. Beltrani, director of Business Development at BAE Systems. “We have more than 25 years of proven, fielded experience in networked communications — Link 16 in particular — that will be a significant strength in this effort.”

While today’s military communications architectures provide rugged, reliable services, they lack the flexibility to expand and adapt to demands for increased or different performance. Under this contract with DARPA, BAE Systems will develop an OSA that is designed to allow new and more effective communications platforms to support allied forces in highly contested environments. The OSA will be required to support ongoing, evolutionary technology upgrades to match application demands and changing adversary threats.

The DARPA C2E program aims to tap into the same vision and ingenuity that has led to remarkable advancements in the U.S. commercial communications industry, and leverage similar capabilities to protect military communications. In addition to the new OSA that BAE Systems will create, the program is anticipated to seek innovative ideas in two additional technical areas: heterogeneous networking capability to improve pervasive services while accommodating legacy platform capabilities and an environment that allows the incorporation of third party technology and the rapid refresh of capability.